"I think that when Merlin went out in its first series it was actually panned by the critics.

"I mean there were people [who were] unbelievably rude about it. Julian [Murphy] and I were compared to monkeys with sticks."

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ATLANTIS

Johnny says because Atlantis was only commissioned in January they are still filming the series as it is being broadcast.

His focus will be finishing this series and hopefully being commissioned for a second.

They've (BBC) got the guts to stick behind a product and shows that they believe in and... hopefully they'll feel the same about Atlantis

Johnny Capps

Executive Producer - Atlantis

"It's not necessarily about what the reviewers said.

"I mean obviously you want the reviewers to like it and you want it to be pick of the day. But at the end of the day, it's about what the audience like and Merlin took a while.

"You know the first series did very well against The X Factor and in seasons two and three it got into its stride and I think it takes a while to get into people's consciousness and to like it and I think that's the great thing about the BBC, is it sticks with shows."

The Atlantis cast also includes Juliet Stevenson, from The Hour, Sarah Parish who appears in Mistresses and Robert Emms from War Horse.

Johnny Capps says the BBC is another critic they have to win over.

"I mean look at Luther, it didn't do very well, second season it did amazingly well. And you know, they've [the BBC] got the guts to stick behind product and shows that they believe in and I think, you know hopefully they'll feel the same about Atlantis."